By Linda Hardy, LDO, CPOT, COAMonday, September 26, 2016 12:15 AM
Alerting all optometrists and optometric managers, September 18th thru September 24th was Paraoptometric Week. This is a week to recognize all of the hard working optometric technicians in your office. The American Optometric Association observes it the third week of September annually. Doctors and managers are encouraged to recognize their staff in fun and creative ways. To help with this, the AOA has items that can be printed off the website under the Paraoptometric Recognition Week recognition kit.

AUSTIN, Texas—The Society to Advance Opticianry has named Barry Santini, OO, as the 2016 Ophthalmic Optician of the Year. The organization plans to present him with a certificate acknowledging this honor during their annual meeting to be held in Las Vegas at Vision Expo West on Saturday Sept. 17, 2016.

It is my honor and pleasure to publish in today’s Opticians Handbook eblast the first of what I hope will be many more research papers submitted by students or their instructors of vision science in the Darryl Meister Educational Forum section.

We’ve been known to brag (just a bit) from time to time about our talented and prestigious group of Contributing Editors – both past and present. We have exciting news to share about one of our past Contributing Editors for the Opticians Handbook - Barry Santini, O.O. (Ophthalmic Optician®).

May is Healthy Vision Month, a national eye health observance established in May 2003 by the National Eye Institute. NEI is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Millions of people in the United States have undiagnosed eye diseases and vision problems. This is a month to help educate your community on the importance of a routine comprehensive dilated exam to maintain eye health and preserve vision.

By Linda Hardy, CPOT, LDO, COAMonday, November 23, 2015 3:06 PM
I had the great opportunity to teach a class at a recent conference in Athens, Georgia. The class was on innovations in technology in the eye field. I was so glad to see the optometric technicians that attended. We had the time to have an in-depth conversation on the topics I presented, which was great.

By Dick Whitney – Carl Zeiss VisionANSI Z80.1 ChairExecutive Director of the Optical Heritage MuseumMonday, November 23, 2015 3:00 PM
As chairman of the ANSI Z80.1 spectacle lens committee, I am excited to announce that a new 2015 revision has just been published and is available for purchase at the ANSI online store. ANSI Z80.1 provides recommended tolerances and quality guidelines for prescription ophthalmic lenses in edged or assembled form. This standard is targeted for updating every five years to keep current with industry innovations and product and process evolution.

In order to give all opticians a voice in the goals, objectives and actions being implemented following last year's Opticianry Summit, the Opticianry Summit Leadership Team has announced a mini summit webinar scheduled for May.

To protect for sun and safety, both the frame and the lens must be safety certified.

In this case, the frame, unlike dress eyewear, takes on as much importance as the lenses.

The ANSI Z87.1-2003 High Impact Safety Standard
Both the frame and lens require safety certification, what does that mean? The answers lie in the requirements set forth in an industry wide agreement called ANSI Z87.1-2003.

Sounds like an unusual combination, especially when describing a fashionable sunglass. Yet it’s probably the best way to think about them since it’s likely that your sunglasses will be required to deliver some special functionality at some time in its life on behalf of you. What do I mean?

I recently had two instances where an office placed speed bumps in the way of the patient when they requested a copy of their prescription.

In the first instance, I received a call from a friend in the mid-west who asked, “Is there a charge for a copy of your prescription?” It turns out that his elderly mother was going to be charged for a copy of her prescription after not receiving one during or at the end a recent office visit for an exam.

This summary, courtesy of OptiCampus.com, of the principal optical and geometrical tolerances from the new ANSI Z80.1-2010, American National Standard for Ophthalmics—Prescription Ophthalmic Lenses. This includes both mounted and unmounted tolerances for...